US seeks broader security relations with India

Washington, June 17 (IANS) US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has advocated the

expansion of broader security relationship between India and the US with increased cooperation on counter-terrorism and intelligence sharing.

The Nov 26 terrorist attacks on Mumbai came as a “reminder that terrorism represents a common threat to our nations and our people, and we must meet it with a common strategy,” she said in a keynote address at the US-India Business Council’s (USI BC) Synergies Summit here Wednesday.

President Barack Obama and she were “committed to working with India in whatever way is appropriate to enhance India’s ability to protect itself,” Clinton said.

Noting that “America faced an extraordinary challenge ourselves after 9/11: how to organise as a government and a people to better prevent and prepare for future attacks,” she said “India faces that same terrible challenge.”

America’s own post-9/11 process had its strengths and its faults, Clinton said expressing belief that “we can learn from India, too, as it develops new mechanisms for cooperation between federal and state security forces.”

“India and the US share an overriding interest in making the world more secure,” she said suggesting cooperation in global security as first of the several natural platforms they need to build on several natural platforms to achieve and realise the benefits of a new relationship

“The tragic attacks of 26/11 were a global event. They played out in slow motion on television screens across India, the US and the world,” Clinton said.

“The violence inflicted on the people of Mumbai and the loss of six American citizens in those attacks was a reminder that terrorism represents a common threat to our nations and our people, and we must meet it with a common strategy,” she said.